298. Why become a Certified Voiceprint Leader

More and more, people aren't asking me how to become better speakers themselves - they're asking how to help other people find their voice.

In this episode, I share the story behind creating The Certified Voiceprint Leader program, why coaching voice and communication has become such an essential leadership skill, and why I believe our human voices matter more than ever in the age of AI.

If you're a coach, leader, trainer, manager, facilitator, or mentor who wants to confidently guide others to speak with greater clarity, confidence and impact, this episode is for you.

Transcript

Hello, welcome back to That Voice Podcast. A big welcome if you’re here for the first time.

As a voice and speaking coach, people often ask me for advice around their presentations, confidence, and their voice – and that might be why you’re tuning in today.

But what I’ve noticed in the last couple of years is people are asking me for advice not for themselves, but for someone they’re helping.

For example, Mariah – Content Queen, who has helped me a lot. She’s a gun with social media content and strategy, and she was asking how she can encourage her clients to be more confident and give more energy on camera. She’s like, "How do I do this in a way that’s more encouraging than, 'Oh dear, that’s pretty bad,' and more effective than, 'Just give it more energy'?"

I can answer that.

Another client of mine mentors a lot of young women. She’s in a predominantly male industry, and she asked me, "Sal, how do I encourage these women to use their voice, to share their value, to hold their boundaries, to not doubt themselves? And do it in a way that’s assertive, not passive or aggressive. What do I say?"

I can answer that.

And then a friend of mine who’s a leadership coach. She runs workshops and training, and her focus isn’t voice and speaking, but it’s inevitably part of leadership. She said someone asked in a workshop about not liking the sound of their voice, so they didn’t want to post videos for social media. And she could answer it, but she was like, "What would Sally say?"

And that’s just a few examples. The recurring theme was, "How do I teach? How do I coach voice and speaking-related content?"

And yes, that’s what I do. Voice and speaking are like the arts degree of the coaching and training world. No matter what specialisation you’re in – leadership, social media, culture, team building, career, safety – using your voice is integral to your success.

And I thought about it.

I have loads of experience speaking. This podcast is about to hit 300 episodes – oh my gosh. I’ve posted videos on social media for years. I recorded my entire audiobook in a few hours. I’ve done a TEDx. I speak on stage professionally.

And I’ve gotta tell you, I prefer coaching to speaking.

I opened a speech and drama studio when I was 16. It was the front room of our family home, which was also Dad’s office. Right through senior school and uni, I was coaching kids in speech and drama. My youngest was only four, right up to 17-year-olds. Such a learning curve. I also did group classes at the Wollongong Conservatorium for a while.

Then, throughout my radio and TV news career, I was always helping other journos with their voice, how to deliver stories, and this soon became quite formal. Right through to the current day, I help journos with their voice and also career mentoring. And I was a tutor in the journalism school at the University of Queensland.

So I have a solid background in teaching and coaching. This was before I opened this business eight years ago. And the catalyst for that was a calling to help people use their voice.

And then, of course, since then, I’ve run loads of online courses, worked with hundreds of clients privately, ranging from writing their keynotes, to improving the sound of their voice, to unravelling a deeply rooted story from their childhood that was blocking their voice.

So speech and drama teaching is my core qualification. I have a Licentiate Diploma, and then I’ve also trained in NLP, which has a brilliant suite of coaching tools within it.

And then, of course, as a facilitator, I’ve worked with corporate teams from many different industries at many different levels. And you name a random curveball to pop up, and I would say it has.

So I reflected on all this and thought, "Yeah, I am absolutely in a great position to coach people how to coach, to advise people how to advise, and there is a need for this."

In this age of AI, our human voices are more valuable than they’ve ever been. And those of us using our voices already need to get together to be strong guides for other people to use theirs. This is a movement. The ripple effect of passing on to others the gift of their voice cannot be underestimated.

One of my goals with the book Voiceprint is to get the word "voiceprint" into everyday language, just like a fingerprint or a footprint.

And when I closed my eyes and connected to my intuition, my higher self, the answer was clear – you need to create a leader-the-leader-style course.

And The Certified Voiceprint Leader was born.

If you follow me already, you might have seen I’m off to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain – all 850 km of the Northern Route – and I’m renovating my apartment. So I said to myself, "Are you sure you want to create a brand-new course now?"

And so that’s when I floated the idea, and within a couple of days I had almost 10 people committed. So that was the sign. This is needed. Let’s do it. A bit of work never killed you, Sal.

And I have to say, it doesn’t feel like work because The Certified Voiceprint Leader is more than my skills, knowledge, and 25 years of experience poured into a structured program… it really is my soul’s calling to help people use their voice and make their mark. Their voiceprint.

And if you are someone who leads others, I would love to welcome you into our first cohort of Certified Voiceprint Leaders.

You might be a coach, a manager, a facilitator, a trainer… you’re that person who people come to for advice – about how to prep for presentations, or get an idea across in a meeting, or social media. You might be someone who notices people around you aren’t reaching their potential. They’re not speaking up, they’re doubting themselves, they’re selling themselves short when the spotlight is on them.

And in The Certified Voiceprint Leader course, you’ll learn how to give exceptional advice, and you’ll learn the techniques yourself so you can lead by example.

If you’re not in a position of guiding others, but you want to become a better communicator, a confident speaker, then Soul Speakers might be a better fit.

And actually, Soul Speakers members get $500 off The Certified Voiceprint Leader course, so come in and join it all!

The Certified Voiceprint Leader course is eight weeks. It starts on the 19th of October – which might seem like ages away, but the kind of people joining need to get things in their calendar early. The live calls are 6–7 pm AEST on Mondays, and I’m going to limit numbers to make sure the value is there. So it will likely sell out well before our start date.

There’s also a project component to the course, which I’m excited about, and I need to make sure I have the capacity to mark all the projects.

All the logistics you’ll find at the link in the show notes.

This podcast episode is Why Become a Certified Voiceprint Leader? And I could reel off bullet points about getting a proven framework, about the value of being handed my templates and resources you can keep for life, how transformative the live calls will be because I’ll be demonstrating techniques in real time, and the added credibility you’ll have by being able to add Certified Voiceprint Leader to your résumé and your offerings...

And all those things are true.

Why become a Certified Voiceprint Leader really comes down to one simple question:

"Do you feel called to help people find their voice and leave a positive mark when they speak?"

Are you called to be a Voiceprint Leader?

If the answer is yes, listen to that. Act on that.

I can’t wait to see you inside this course.

Click through the link in the show notes, or reach out to me on social media.

And I’ll be back on the podcast airwaves next week.